Jamar continued to press his head against her breasts but took one tight nipple in his mouth. “I’m a dreamer, remember?”
That was the moment that Kierra clued in. “Oh, I get it! You were playing a game when you were being hostile and told me to take my clothes off.” The short episode hadn’t been much of a game to her, but she’d learned something valuable. Her world wasn’t quite as restrictive as she’d thought it to be, not with Jamar in it. Fully cognizant of the fact that he was doing so, he made choices for her, which at first, seemed like a rope knotted around her neck, but then she realized that he was daring her to extend her horizons.
Jamar chuckled. “I love you, Kierra, but sometimes it takes you a while to understand.” He sucked on her other nipple.
“You never meant me any harm,” she murmured in wonder. He was still her best friend, although that would soon have to end. If they were caught—
She didn’t want to think about death and dying. Instead, she wanted to think about life and passion and the possibility of real love, although it could never be with Jamar. Their differences were too great.
“Stop sucking on my nipples.” She shoved him away, hopped off his lap and onto her knees.
Consternation swept his features. “What are you doing? I don’t want you kneeling in front of me.” He reached for her to haul her to her feet.
Kierra began to laugh, a choking sound at first than raucous, stomach wrenching laughter. Jamar slid off the chair, to his knees and began to echo her.
Through the noise, she tried to explain, “Do you know how incongruous we look?”
With his lips in a wide grin, he gave a slight hiccup. “Like a black guy and a white woman trying to make out.”
The laughter went on and on until they exhausted themselves. With a sigh and tears of joy streaking their cheeks, they fell into each other’s arms.
Tenderly, Jamar stroked the back of her head with gentle fingers. “Why did you get on your knees?” he asked quietly. “Although I suspect I know why.”
Kierra nuzzled her head against his shoulder, relaxed and, for a few moments, happy. “I want to suck your cock and taste you as you come in my mouth.”
“Right now?” he asked incredulously. “Even after what I did?”
She tilted her head and gazed into his wide eyes and the churning regret so evident within them. “Jamar, stop beating yourself up about everything. That’s what I’m supposed to do, obey your orders.”
She sensed his shoulders tense, and she heard him grind his teeth together, an action with which she was unfamiliar.
“Jamar?” she whispered, suddenly frightened. “What’s happening?”
In words that seemed far away in her terrified haze, she heard him say, “You are not and will never be kattanee for me, Kierra. You were my friend and you
are
my friend and I don’t give a damn that our stupid society says we can’t be what we want to be to each other.”
Marginally, she relaxed. “I’ve never heard you grind your teeth before. I thought you were so angry with me that you’d—”
Distressed, she couldn’t finish and covered her eyes with her palms, willing the tears not to come rushing forth.
“That I’d hit you?” Jamar demanded in a husky tone.
She nodded, ashamed of herself, scared of what he’d become since they were able to spend time together, away from the turmoil that public censure caused.
“How could you think that? Have I ever hit you, even pretended to?” His voice rose vehemently, grasping her wrists and drawing her hands from her heated face.
“You’ve changed,” she told him frankly. “You’re not the friend I used to associate with. You’re edgy and angry now where you once were sweet and laid back.”
He pursed his lips as she spoke. The anger simmered under the surface again. “I’m not the only one who’s changed,” he ground out. “You’re terrified of everything, and I don’t think you want anything to do with me anymore.”
She didn’t dare tell him his suspicions were true. Jaquill and kattanee didn’t mix unless one was lording it over the other. Did he understand that or was he stuck in his dream world where everyone got along just fine without recriminations?
“Kierra?” he prompted for a reply. He swallowed hard, and the sound was overwhelming in the disturbing silence.
How could she answer that she wouldn’t hurt him? She’d leave soon. Eden would know where Kierra could go, away from Jamar and his wild dreams of love, and marriage and equality between them.
“We’ve both changed,” she admitted in a hushed tone.
“We can help each other.”
She was overwhelmed by his humble words. In her heart, she sensed he still planned to marry her somehow, to spirit her away from Becutan. How could she tell him about her decision, one that didn’t include him? She couldn’t take the risk of seeing the pain etched in his eyes, knowing she’d betrayed him and his trust in her.
“Yes,” she lied. “We can.”
There was no stopping Jamar. She couldn’t prevent him from being a dreamer, but she could run as far as she could from him.
“Good. Let’s start by getting that taste you wanted.”
She chuckled low in her throat. “You won’t give up, will you?”
Shifting his legs and easing onto his back, he pulled her down onto his chest. “Why would I give up on the woman who’s to become my wife?”
Kierra shrugged nonchalantly as the guilt ate away at her. Their lips were a mere inch apart. They were never destined to marry, not a Jaquill with a kattanee. “I have several theories, but you’ve heard them all.”
He took her face between both hands and kissed her with a fierce possessiveness that astounded her. Her lips parted against the onslaught. She couldn’t get enough of him. The realization struck fear in her. She’d heard of kattanee women who’d been ravished by a Jaquill man and paid the ultimate price. Would she end up dead if she couldn’t tell Jamar ‘no’? They were no longer young playmates looked upon fondly by both kattanee and Jaquill. They were grown adults and she’d given Jamar her body, although she couldn’t give him what he wanted the most—belief and trust in his dream.
She rocked with the intensity of his kiss and stored away the pleasurable sensation of his lips against her own, his hands exploring and straying down the sides of her neck and to her swollen breasts. “I promised,” she told him softly.
He chuckled. “Taste me then, Kierra.”
She slid down his body, admiring every flat, black inch of him, the cords of muscle in his neck, the mat of dark hair below his throat. She paused to lave his taut nipples. Reluctantly, she moved on, down to his stomach and the thick V shape of hair arrowing down to his waist. If only time would slow down and give her a chance to explore every sensitive inch of him, but there was little time. She had to get back to work.
Jamar’s thighs quivered. She looked up the length of his body and gave him a questioning glance. Was he afraid, too? How could that be? Jaquill were never afraid of anything.
“I enjoy being with you,” he replied easily. “You’re my whole life, Kierra. Everything.”
She lowered her head so he couldn’t see the guilt raging in her eyes.
I love you, too, Jamar. More than you’ll ever know, but we can’t ever be together, not as man and wife.
His cock was full and bobbing toward her. Her hair covered her face as she bent and flicked her tongue over the tip of his moist glans. He tasted sweet as a sugared berry. Kierra heard him groan, and his thighs went rigid. He was very close to an orgasm. Her heart throbbed with an intense ache for what could have been if they hadn’t been born Manitee-an. They would have married, had children and grown old together.
She shook herself. That was never to be. Not ever. This was the last time she’d make love to Jamar. She’d tell him he was a dreamer and walk away. All she would have were the memories of these special two days and their childhood as playmates.
His hands played with strands of her silken hair. “I have an idea,” he whispered, breaking the silence. “That way you don’t have to go without some loving.”
Filled with inquiry, her gaze met his. Her pulse picked up. She didn’t know much about sex. She’d only learned from what her mother had told her men liked.
“Keep licking my cock but turn so your ass is in my face.”
Kierra shook her head in disbelief. “What?”
“You heard me. That way I can lick you.”
She became so aroused at the idea that her juices escaped her pussy. Immediately, she swung around, placing her feet well above his head and felt his fingers widen the lips of her labia. Then his hot tongue laved her hard clit.
Crying out with delicious, tingling pleasure, she glanced over her shoulder. “How can I focus on your dick if you’re doing that?”
His reply was muffled. “You’ll just have to try.”
Her thighs tensed, and she sheered off into a powerful orgasm. She barely remembered in time to swallow her scream of ecstasy so that a grunt slipped from her lips instead. Jamar continued to lick her clit then his tongue darted into her slick cunt.
“No,” she managed, trying to stop him, even as his stiff penis waved back and forth beckoning to her.
His tongue darted from her pussy, leaving cold air in its wake. Kierra shuddered. How could she think of a life separate from Jamar? She loved the sight of his black skin against hers, of his sculpted body near hers.
“Did you change your mind?” he asked huskily.
“No, just stop that until I’m finished with you,” she threw over her shoulder.
“Oh, okay, but I’d still like to look at your ass as you do me,” he said lightheartedly. “It’s the prettiest ass on Manitee-a.”
She couldn’t help but smile. Prettiest ass indeed. A kattanee ass nonetheless. Bending her head to her self-imposed task, she kissed the tip of his cock and heard a heavy groan from under her. Ignoring his sign of pleasure, she took the girth of his penis into her mouth and sucked him hard like a sweet, sticky candy.
His thighs and abdomen clenched and quivered. A moment later, his cum spurted into her mouth. Kierra milked every drop from him she could before she rolled off him and stared at the ceiling. Her time was up.
Jamar closed his eyes and gasped for air. His skin was clammy and perspiration dampened his forehead. Kierra did things to him no other woman could. He’d known that since they were children, but now, with the sex so phenomenal, he couldn’t even think of living without her.
He raised himself up on one elbow and tickled the underside of her baby toe, knowing she was ticklish and would either push him away or laugh with delight.
She rolled away and scrambled to her knees, but there was no smile on her lips. Puzzled, Jamar blinked. “Kierra, what’s going on?”
“I can’t do this anymore.” She raked her fingers through the top of her hair. “This was the last time.”
His heart sank. No way would he let her go. He’d try reasoning with her although a fat lot of good that had done. “I’m going to take you away. The spaceship captain agreed to take us both without papers.”
Kierra interrupted. “For more money, I suppose.”
He nodded. “But the money doesn’t matter. We’ll go to Praadar, we’ll get married and we’ll have no worries.” He’d forgotten the message was on is GCD. He labored to his feet as he fought back the dizziness as a result of his orgasm and his excitement that he and Kierra no longer needed to worry.
Scrolling to the message, he held out the GCD for her to examine. She read it, her lips silently moving. When she’d finished, her gaze turned melancholy and caught his. “You know we can’t go, Jamar. Maybe you can, but the bossman would order me found and brought home.”
Disheartened, he noted she used the name the kattanee gave his father. He said nothing as his gaze shifted to the GCD, which he then set on the chair. When he turned back to Kierra, she was watching him with narrowed eyes.
“I can hire bodyguards.” Yes, that was a good idea. The guards wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
She shook her head in disagreement. “I’m kattanee, Jamar. There is nothing on Manitee-a or in the whole galaxy that will change that. If I run, I’ll be hunted until the day I die.”
“Praadar doesn’t cling to these antiquated ways,” Jamar explained. “There is no extradition except for criminals, and you’re not one of them.” He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “I promise, with everything I am, that if you come with me, I’ll make sure nothing happens to you that you don’t want.”
She moved away toward the windows shaded by early afternoon shadows. He loved the elegant grace she walked with. He strolled up behind her and circled his arms around her slim waist, taking in her female scent. “I won’t go without you, Kierra. We’re meant to be together. Maybe,” he said on a small sigh, “we were on some other plane of existence before we came here and we made a pact.”
Kierra shook her head. “I don’t believe in your dreams, Jamar. I’m not as free as you are.”
“Do you sometimes sense the possibility of freedom, like the night you were talking to your mother and the moonlight was shining on you?” Could he persuade her to his way of thinking—that she no longer needed to think of herself as a slave, as a kattanee?
Slowly, she turned to him, but her expression was unreadable. “You watched me with my mother last night?”